Convenient. This was the word running through my head while reading the book. It is so chock-full of plot devices and asspulls, it's ridiculous!

Observe -

-> Our heroes are on the run and they need a car to get away, so they just waltz into a second-hand car shop and buy an SUV for 1500$... EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE ONLY 16 AND THEIR FACE IS PLASTERED ON NATIONAL TELEVISON EVERYWHERE ON ACCOUNT OF THEM BEING BRANDED AS TERRORISTS.

-> They need a place to hide - and voilà! A nice big mansion, complete with a swimming pool, is lying empty just for them to come along and crash for a few days.

-> Each of the nine Garde was assigned an adult, a Cêpan, as the author realised that he can't just leave teen kids on an alien planet, unaided BUT the author also realised that it won't be much fun with adults getting in the way so he conveniently has them all killed one by one.

-> Somewhere along the way, after John FINALLY reads Henri's letter, we find out that Sam's dad was a Loric ally who helped out Henri and John when they first came to Earth and he was, in fact, abducted by aliens.

AND THEN, just when our guys have run out of options and we're left thinking there's no possible way the story can move forward now, we find out that Sam's dad had buried something in his backyard - something that might help the Loriens defeat the Mogs - and had been hinting to Sam ALL THROUGH HIS CHILDHOOD to look there in a time of need - which is something Sam remembered JUST NOW.

I'll let this absurdity sink in.

This is just off the top of my head but there are PLENTY more where those came from!

The entire story feels like none of it was planned and carefully thought out. It isn't put together well at all and comes across as a complete mess. Two authors co-wrote this book and it shows. It is half-hearted and lazily written like the authors didn't care about anything other than the money they would be making from this book and the possible movie deal they had clearly kept in mind while writing.

Thankfully, unlike the previous book, John didn't take up the narration for the entire book (God, how I hate him!) - the story was also told from the POV of Number Seven, Marina, and she was infinitely more interesting than John. I was pleased with the direction Sarah's character took as I never liked her. Six was slightly unbelievable but still likable. No one else evoked ANY sort of emotion from me.

This book was only marginally better than the last... 2.5 stars out of 5